Smithsonian.com

Why You Waste Time Playing Farmville

Why do 70 million people spend time managing virtual farms in Farmville? (I know they're not all crazy.) Tom Chatfield, a writer and video game expert (he blogs at What Happens Next?) says it's because the game designers have figured out how to take advantage of human nature. We evolved to find thi...

Why do 70 million people spend time managing virtual farms in Farmville? (I know they're not all
crazy.) Tom Chatfield, a writer and video game expert (he blogs at
What Happens Next?) says it's because the game designers have figured out how to take advantage of human nature. We evolved to find things interesting in very specific ways, he says in his
TedTalk filmed earlier this year, and find learning and problem solving particularly stimulating. "Now, we can reverse engineer that and build whole worlds that expressly tick our evolutionary boxes," Chatfield says.

He lists seven ways that games do this:

Experience bars measuring progress (summing up where you are in a game with one easy graphic, a bar of progress),

Multiple long- and short-term goals

Rewards for effort

Rapid, frequent, clear feedback

An element of uncertainty

Windows of enhanced attention (predicting time when learning is taking place)

Other people.

It struck me, as he listed off his items, that these are also the ways in which we can make nearly any effort, such as school, stimulating, even when the day-to-day tasks may be boring. Chatfield calls "World of Warcraft" nothing more than "a great box-opening effort." Like most games, it's about finding items inside other items. The dull version of this is simply opening a pile of boxes. But the game designers have imagined thousands of ways to make this so interesting and so much fun that we keep playing, sometimes for years. Surely there are ways to engineer other areas of our lives in a similar way. Anyone have some suggestions?

We Recommend

Have you ever wondered how a simple shot can keep you from dying a horrible death? In this one-minute video, Ask Smithsonian’s host, Eric Schulze, unravels how vaccines boot-camp our bodies into shape, getting us ready to fight off deadly diseases

Editor's Picks: New Releases

The Smithsonian Institution has entered affiliate agreements with the companies listed in our holiday shop, and earns a fee for every purchase made from following any link from these gift guide pages and making a purchase on the affiliate site. This fee helps fund Smithsonian’s activities.

Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It [Marc Goodman] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. NEW YORK TIMES and WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER One of the world's leading authorities on global security

The Smithsonian is a repository of America's history, achievements, aspirations, and identity. It holds the artifacts of great leaders, and those of ordinary Americans. It houses scientific specimens and technological wonders. It is home to art, music, films, writings-a vast treasure trove of objects of extraordinary beauty and outstanding design.